#115: The TCM Classic Film Festival Hosts TCM Party on Monster Island Resort!

It’s time to talk classic film! I just spent four wild and dizzying days rushing from brilliant film to brilliant film at the TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood! It is truly the best experience for any film fanatic. Turner Classic Movies is a television cable network that shows classic films commercial free, and that mission has given them a loyal legion of fans. Many of those fans have Twitter handles, so it was inevitable that the TCM Party would come into being.

Photo by: Jacqueline Stallings @LivingLola

TCM Party is a group of people who watch TCM together and livetweet their experience with the hashtag #TCMParty. It is like watching the films with hundreds of friends from all over the world. The TCM Classic Film Festival provided the perfect setting for many of us who participate in TCM Party to meet, watch films together, and, finally, to record this podcast. That’s right! This is TCM Party on Monster Island Resort!

Update: By popular demand, here is the photo of Will McKinley with this mint-in-box Robert Osborne talking doll, care of Brian Kirby of Shelf Life Clothing and Drive-In Mob fame!

Unfortunately for film lovers in San Diego, this week is also colored by the loss of our beloved historic Ken Cinema in Kensington. I talk about that in tis episode, and you can read/listen to Beth Accomando’s interview with Landmark president Ted Mundorff here, as well as read her own recap of the TCM Classic Film Festival here

Also, here is the stop motion movie I made waiting in line for the TCM Classic Film Festival presentation of Rialto’s new 60th anniversary DCP of Godzilla: The Japanese Original!

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This episode is dedicated to one of the best friends I’ve ever had: classic film lover Johanna “Micki” Blakely

6 thoughts on “#115: The TCM Classic Film Festival Hosts TCM Party on Monster Island Resort!”

I’ll be honest, this podcast is the first thing that made me glad not to go to TCMFF. Truth be told, if I met Ms. Accomondo, I probably would have spent the whole time peppering her with Killer Tomatoes questions, since that series may be one of the few things I love more than classic movies!

Outside of that, great podcast. Sorry to hear about the Ken Cinema– it’s always rough losing a connection to history like that.

Hi Danny! First of all, let me say that I really love your site! We would love to bring a pre-code festival to San Diego! Beth would be more than happy to answer any questions you have about Killer Tomatoes. She still knows the filmmakers pretty well. I’m glad to hear you enjoyed the podcast–hopefully you will continue to give my show a chance.

Regarding the Ken Cinema, there may be some hope. Landmark is definitely leaving the lease, but its existence as a movie theater could still continue under alternative management. We are waiting to hear more!

Thanks for the kind words Miguel! I’ve been a big fan of the MOSS for a while (I’ve known Tars and 4DK IRL for a bit too) and listened to show #111 a few weeks ago. I’ll definitely listen to more episodes when I get the chance.

A pre-Code festival in San Diego would be cool– I’ve been to the city a couple of times and really enjoyed it. If you do end up creating one and need any screening notes or info, let me know, I’d be delighted to help.

Lastly, I don’t have any questions for Beth right now, but I do want to relate a brief story. I was in a bar in San Francisco for Halloween two years ago, and it was tiny, had maybe 10 people in there including my party of 4, and, for some reason, the bartender put on Return of the Killer Tomatoes. To this day I marvel at the odds that someone put that on in a place that included perhaps the only weirdo in the world to have that movie memorized line for line. … I soon annoyed the bartender by singing along with the opening song, but, hey, I wasn’t exactly sober at that point in the evening anyway.